Bream Creek is synonymous with Tasmanian born viticultural legend, Fred Peacock. From a family long associated with fruit and baking, Fred graduated with a Degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Tasmania and was appointed in the mid 1970’s as an Horticultural Officer with the then Department of Agriculture.
One of Fred’s initial responsibilities was to oversee operations of the Rowella Vine Block in the Tamar Valley of Tasmania’s north. Fred became more involved with the developing industry, becoming the Tasmanian government’s first Viticultural Officer in the early 1980’s. Fred eventually left the state government and took a position at Moorilla Estate (now the site of the famous MONA) from early 1989 until late 1992. His responsibilities also included management of the Bream Creek Vineyard (in which Moorilla was a partner) located around 45 minutes out of Hobart overlooking the picturesque Marion Bay. When the vineyard came up for sale in 1990, Fred decided to purchase it and established the Bream Creek label.
Under his dedicated hand, the vineyard has expanded to 7.5 hectares, including plantings of the rare grape Schonburger. It’s no surprise that the grapes that Fred grows create impeccable wines that have been awarded numerous trophies and medals the world over.
Bream Creek Brut Rosé NV
96 Points – $36
Methodé Traditionelle. Pale onion skin in colour. Complex aromas with hints of straw bale, biscotti, white cherry, blood orange citrus with oyster shell at the rear and a waft of smoky, just lit kindling. Layered, structured and precise. On the palate, it is savoury/sweet nutty biscuit and initially generous cherry fruit and soft rose tempered with bittersweet grapefruit/blood orange. It shows a sublime acid profile and an exquisite mousse that dissipates to leave favourable echoes of flavour through the long tail of tightly wound intensity. Bargain.
Bream Creek Chardonnay 2019
93 Points – $36
Light straw gold. Subtle nutty nougat and sulfide funk with creamy butter wrapper over rich just yellow nectarine and lemon pith with a stony/quartz vein. Smoky vanilla blonde French oak gives strut and this is impressively elegant from start to finish. Almost medium bodied, the wine does carry some flesh, yet the fruit is clean and pristine with moreish acidity impelling the wine on and long. Mature and serious.
Bream Creek Pinot Noir 2019
95 Points – $42
Spiced and exotic. Constantly moving and fluxing of herbals, black fruits, red fruits (fresh and crystalline), tobacco, smoked meats and rose heart. Dark and serious with incredible length of flavour. Herbal (but not green) and spiced with exquisite tannin knitted very fine underpinning an intense and focused palate, medium bodied yet without any blank spots on the canvas.
Bream Creek Reserve Pinot Noir 2018
94 Points – $65
Cherry flesh, savoury walnut, earthy pomegranate with fresh fermenting grape must, choc/ orange sweetness. Warm, enveloping aromas like sweet kisses of Belgian Choc Ice Cream with oak influence. Muscular and dialled up, almost heaving and pent up. There’s a full amount of flattening, drying, clucking tannin that provides a very solid base to fuller bodied spiced cherry and blackberry fruit and spiced oak. A tight powerhouse with decades ahead.
Buy the Bream Creek range here.
